World Junior Championship roundup: United States shuts out Austria
Blackhawks prospect Kaiser, Red Wings prospect Mazur score twice each; Johnson has lacrosse-style goal in Canada win
© Jason Franson/AP
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Day 5 games
United States 7, Austria 0 -- Wyatt Kaiser and Carter Mazur each scored two goals for the United States, which remained undefeated in Group B.
Andrew Oke made 11 saves through two periods, and Remington Keopple made four saves in the third period for the United States (3-0-0-0).
Leon Sommer made 49 saves for Austria (0-0-0-3).
"I liked our start, we knew we had to get off to a good start," United States coach Nate Leaman said. "I kind of rolled three lines to start the game to get on the scoresheet hopefully early, and Logan Cooley's line got it done for us."
Kaiser, a Chicago Blackhawks defenseman prospect, scored on the first shot of the game 54 seconds into the first period, to give the United States a 1-0 lead. His wrist shot through traffic got past Sommer.
Matt Coronato (Calgary Flames) made it 2-0 at 2:32. He took a pass from Cooley (Arizona Coyotes) in front, cut across the crease and waited out Sommer before lifting the puck into the net.
"I liked how we got to the net, we were attacking the net, and the first five minutes was pretty fast-paced," Kaiser said. "We were getting pucks to the net and keeping it simple."
Kaiser's second goal gave the United States a 3-0 lead at 11:40 when he snapped a shot into the top corner.
Redmond Savage (Detroit Red Wings) made it 4-0 at 18:26. He took a long pass from defenseman Ian Moore (Anaheim Ducks) and scored up high on Sommer. Play continued as officials ruled the puck hit the crossbar, but a review later determined it had crossed the goal line.
"I heard it and it didn't sound like the crossbar, and you can tell the difference sometimes between the crossbar and the back bar," Savage said. "But I didn't see it go in, so I just put my head down and kept playing."
Mazur (Red Wings) made it 5-0 at 7:01 of the second period on a shot from the slot. He scored again 57 seconds later on the power play for a 6-0 lead at 7:58.
"Starting the game was pretty tough giving up those two quick goals," Sommer said. "I actually like those kind of games where you're getting a lot of shots. Mentally I felt good, so I was able to keep going and I thought we played well after that."
Dominic James (Blackhawks) had a goal overturned for the United States at 18:40 of second period after Austria challenged for offside.
Sasha Pastujov (Ducks) scored with 40 seconds left in the third period for the 7-0 final.
"When you play against a top team like this after a back-to-back game, it's always pretty hard," Austria captain Leon Wallner said. "We didn't start well, but I thought we came back and improved our game and I thought we had a pretty good fight against them."
The United States will play Sweden on Sunday. Austria plays Switzerland on Monday.
Canada 5, Czechia 1 -- Kent Johnson scored a lacrosse-style goal, and Mason McTavish had two goals for Canada, which stayed perfect in Group A.
Johnson, a Columbus Blue Jackets forward prospect, scooped the puck from behind the net and lifted it over the shoulder of Czechia goalie Tomas Suchanek to give Canada a 2-1 lead at 19:00 of the first period.
"It happened pretty quick. I think I got a loose puck behind the net and there was no D-man on the right post," Johnson said. "I just went for it. There was a lot of room and I was so pumped that it worked out."
Ronan Seeley (Carolina Hurricanes), Jack Thompson (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Logan Stankoven (Dallas Stars) each had two assists, and Dylan Garand (New York Rangers) made 22 saves for Canada (3-0-0-0). Martin Rysavy (Blue Jackets) scored, and Suchanek made 52 saves for Czechia (1-0-1-1).
"I'm a little tired, but it was a great game. I enjoyed it a lot," Suchanek said. "There was a lot of great energy from the fans, and on the ice it was a fun game. I was a little bit busy today, but I like games like this, you get into the games really fast and the shots keep going and it's easier to make saves when you see that many shots."
Rysavy scored on a shorthanded breakaway to give Czechia a 1-0 lead at 5:10 of the first period.
Play continued after Rysavy's shot hit the goalpost and bounced up just under the crossbar. The goal was reviewed and awarded to Czechia, which was killing a five-minute major assessed to Jaroslav Chmelar (Rangers) for a checking-from-behind penalty on Canada forward Brennan Othmann (Rangers).
"It happened so quickly, so I didn't see whether it hit the side of the net or bounced off the post," Rysavy said. "I kept playing because they were coming back the other way, so I had to back check. But after the video review, I saw it was a good goal and I was happy for that because it was a good way to start the game."
McTavish (Anaheim Ducks) tied it 1-1 at 16:44 when a shot from Thompson bounced off his knee.
Ridly Greig (Ottawa Senators) made it 3-1 on the power play at 4:48 of the second period, redirecting a pass from Seeley.
McTavish scored on a breakaway at 11:05 to make it 4-1, sliding the puck through the pads of Suchanek.
"I think our overall game has gotten better again today, and that's the goal, especially in these short tournaments. Getting better is the key," McTavish said. "I thought their goalie made some outstanding saves. I thought on that Johnson line with Stankoven, they could have had even more goals, but their goalie played really well. I thought their defensive game was pretty good. They did a good job of boxing out. They're a tough team to play against."
Tyson Foerster (Philadelphia Flyers) made it 5-1 at 12:21 of the third period when he one-timed a pass from Johnson in the slot.
Czechia will play Latvia on Sunday. Canada plays Finland on Monday.
Germany 3, Switzerland 2 -- Bennet Rossmy and Thomas Heigl each had a goal and an assist for Germany in its second Group B win.
Yannick Proske had three assists and Florian Bugl made 23 saves for Germany (2-0-0-1).
Simon Knak (Nashville Predators) and Jonas Taibel scored, and Kevin Pasche made 26 saves for Switzerland (0-0-0-3).
"In the first period we played simple, we wanted to keep the game simple, and we were able to do that," Heigl said. "When we had the puck in our zone, we made the simple plays and chipped the puck out and did things like that. We played an easy game."
Rossmy gave Germany a 1-0 lead at 5:37 of the first period when he collected the puck on a rush and found the top corner from the right face-off circle.
Heigl made it 2-0 at 8:16, converting a cross-ice pass from Proske.
Knak scored with nine seconds remaining in the period to cut the lead to 2-1. He took a backhand pass from Dario Allenspach and scored from the slot.
"We didn't play our best game, we weren't battling enough, we weren't skating enough," Knak said. "Germany played better than we did. We gave up some easy goals, we need to be sharper in the D-zone, our forwards need to work harder to get back to create pressure. We needed to work harder and skate more."
Haakon Hanelt (Washington Capitals) made it 3-1 at 16:43 of the second period on an individual rush. Hanelt got around defenseman Rodwin Dionicio down the left wing and scored into the far corner.
Taibel made it 3-2 at 11:40 of the third period, getting to the puck in the slot following a scramble in front.
"It feels great to win the game against Switzerland, it's a big rivalry," Rossmy said. "We had a really good start, and we worked hard, we blocked shots and drove to the net. It was incredible to see the team work together. We were really motivated on the bench and it was a good win."
On Monday, Switzerland will play Austria and Germany plays Sweden.
